Interview with Paul Tunnah Founder of Pharmaphorum

Paul Tunnah is the CEO and Founder of pharmaphorum media. He received both an MA in Biochemistry and DPhil in Biological Sciences from Oxford University. Prior to founding pharmaphorum media, Paul has a strong background in early research, commercial pharmaceutical consulting, digital media and content marketing. He has written and produced numerous articles and reports / white papers during his career, is regarded as a key industry advisor on social media communication and has developed Pharmaphorum media into a globally recognized industry brand, engaging with senior industry executives on key issues and connecting them with external thought leaders.

Paul, you created pharmaphorum nearly 5 years ago now. What do you see as the main change in pharma’s perspective on digital, as compared to then?

I think that 5 years ago the pharmaceutical industry was quite nervous about digital channels, particularly social media, as it saw them very much as a separate entity quite distinct from what how it was used to engaging. Now, I think there is recognition that they are just new channels that can be used to communicate with other healthcare stakeholders in the same ways as more traditional ones, such as conferences, mailers or phone calls. However, pharma has also grasped the massive potential for digital channels to reach a much broader group of stakeholders more easily. This has pros and cons – it can be very enticing, but also means that the right regulatory processes need to be in place to ensure the wrong messages are not widely disseminated! So overall, pharma now recognises the power of digital as a complementary channel within its communications strategy, but is still not fully embracing it while it works out how to stay compliant. I expect that latter issue will be worked out over the next few years and we will see digital integrate more broadly into pharma operations, in every area.

Why are you, Paul, a supporter of Doctors 2.0 & You conference?

There are lots of conferences focused on the pharma industry and broader healthcare sector. The ones that really interest me and entice me to come along start by looking externally across healthcare to understand what the overarching challenges are for different stakeholders, before considering the broad, integrated solutions. Doctors 2.0 & You exemplifies this holistic approach and is one of the few events that brings together the pharma industry, technology companies, healthcare providers and patients. It cuts through ‘buzzwords’ and fads to get to the core of how we develop better, more collaborative healthcare solutions that integrate technology and medicine to really make a difference for patients.